1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for detecting a combination of compounds contributing to pungent odor from an air conditioner, a method for reproducing the pungent odor, and preparing a corresponding pungent composition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Clean air is regarded as an essential element for human health and well-being. Two important factors that lead to unsatisfactory indoor air quality in an airtight building are: the building itself producing a substantial amount of air pollutants that need to be removed or diluted; and odor generated as a result of human activities.
An air-cooling system lowers interior temperature and optimizes interior environment through air conditioning which changes air temperature, humidity, flow and cleanliness to more favorable conditions. Increasingly, air-cooling systems are being used to improve the standard of living. Although the air-cooling systems have been improved functionally over time, problems remain to be solved in terms of interior air quality. In the past, lowering interior temperature was viewed as one of the most fundamental and important functions of the air-cooling system. However, currently, health-related aspects such as interior air quality and odor may also be regarded as important functions of air-cooling systems. In particular, complaints regarding interior air quality include offensive odor such as pungent, foul odor, foot odor, and the like. To solve the odor problem, it may be necessary to analyze the odor-causing substances and understand the fundamental cause of the odor.
Although it is known that metabolites produced by fungi and bacteria are the cause of odor from an air conditioner, it may not be known what metabolites are produced and in what amount by the fungi and bacteria. Additionally, since it is unclear specifically what compounds cause the offensive odor, it may be necessary to understand the type of compounds which contribute to the pungent from the air conditioner.